A 20-shekel whistle with a metal piece with sharp edges that a 19-year-old bought at the Lag Ba’omer events at Meron entered his lungs, requiring him to be treated urgently at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot on Sunday The doctors managed under general anesthesia to pull the dangerous part out of his respiratory system and save his life.

Yoel Sofer, who will soon enter the army, went to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai with his friends.

“I came home in the morning to let my mother hear the funny noises from the whistle, which made me laugh. Almost immediately, I mistakenly inhaled pieces of metal. I started to cough immediately. I couldn’t breathe and foam came out of my mouth. After my father, Motti, tried to tap me on the back several times to remove the foreign object but didn’t succeed, he put me in the car and took me to the emergency room in Rehovot.

If you are very overweight and always thought it was something in your head, you were right – but it is not just psychological; it is something in a small part of the brain. Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have added another piece to the obesity puzzle, showing how and why a certain brain protein contributes to weight gain. Their work was published in Cell Metabolism.

Prof. Ari Elson and his team in the Rehovot institute’s molecular genetics department made the discovery when working with female mice that were genetically engineered to lack protein tyrosine phosphatase epsilon (PTPe). As the scientists had originally intended to investigate osteoporosis, they also removed the rodents’ ovaries. Oophorectomy typically causes mice to gain weight to the point of obesity – so the scientists were surprised to find that the weight of the genetically-engineered mice remained stable. Working with Dr. Alon Chen and his group in the neurobiology department and Prof. Hilla Knobler, head of the unit of metabolic disease and diabetes of Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, the researchers fed these mice a high-fat diet, yet the PTPe-deficient mice maintained their svelte figures; they burned more energy and had more stable glucose levels as well.

To find out how the lack of this protein could keep mice slim and healthy, the scientists looked at the hypothalamus – a region of the brain that takes in assorted stimuli, including a wide variety of hormones, and sends out messages of its own in the form of new hormones and nerve signals. The hypothalamus plays a vital role in regulating body mass – a complex balancing act that involves, among other things, controlling appetite and physical activity.

Elson and his team found that PTPe blocks the messages from a now-well-known hormone called leptin – a key player in body mass regulation. They revealed exactly how it does this: PTPe responds to the leptin signal in the hypothalamus, inhibiting certain molecules, which in turn dampens that signal.

Among leptin’s activities is that it reduces appetite and increases physical activity. Paradoxically, obese people often have a surfeit of leptin in their blood. This is because, while their bodies produce the hormone normally, their cells become resistant to its effects, and more leptin is generated to compensate. The new research shows that PTPe plays a role in this resistance. The team found that mice lacking the protein were highly sensitive to leptin; and they remained so despite aging, ovary removal or high-fat diets. This suggests that in obese humans with leptin insensitivity, inhibiting PTPe might, conceivably, help reestablish the leptin response and induce weight loss. This, however, requires further research to ensure that it acts in the same way in humans, with no dangerous side-effects.

Elson noted: “Interestingly enough, the effect seems to be gender-specific. Male mice hardly benefitted from the lack of PTPe compared with female mice. This finding could open up whole new lines of inquiry in obesity studies.”

HELPING AIDS CARRIERS BECOME PARENTS Having HIV, which is serious but has become a chronic disease, is not the end of the world. In fact, it could lead to the beginning of life. Four successful pregnancies were recently produced for still-healthy carriers by doctors at Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center . So far, 45 couples have registered for the new project for fertility in HIV carriers.

Dr. Keren Olstein, who coordinates it and follows up couples through the whole process, said success “is a dream-come-true for us” as well as the parents.

The women are healthy; their male partners are HIV carriers. To be accepted by the project, the couples must have taken the HIV drug cocktail of protease inhibitors for at least six months and present at least two tests with documentation of a low viral load in their immune systems. Then, the man gives a semen sample that is carefully rinsed in a Hadassah lab to remove all signs of the potentially deadly virus. If virology tests show there is no HIV in the semen, it is injected into the woman’s womb when she has ovulated. Prof. Shlomo Ma’ayan, head of the hospital’s AIDS clinic, initiated the project and receives assistance from staff of the IVF Center and of the Virology Lab.

May 17-19, 2011 – three events held in Grand Rapids and Frankentmuth, MI were attended by over 300 Christian participants under the leadership of the Rev. Timothy Munger, the FOI’s leader in the Midwest, with the participation of Mr. Shai Alderoty, the Director of Marketing at the Kaplan Medical Center.

Ynetnews
More than three years ago 15 soldiers from the Hatzor Air Force Base were taken to Kaplan Medical Center inRehovot for blood tests after they were exposed …

Thirty-four officers and soldiers were lightly injured after being exposed to a highly toxic chemical at the Ramat David Air Force Base early Thursday. The substance – Hydrazine – is used to supply power to fighter jets.

All soldiers were initially examined by medical officials at the base and were later taken to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The soldiers were first exposed to the toxic around 10:00 am while inside a hangar at the base. Not all suffered the same level of exposure.

Medical teams in the base began to treat the injured.

According to IDF procedure, in cases of exposure to such substances medics must perform examinations to rule out any injuries. The soldiers were therefore referred to the Rambam Medical Center. An initial examination suggests that the soldiers were not seriously injured.

Soldiers enter Rambam Medical Center (Photo: Avishag Shaar Yeshuv)

“Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical which can cause death in certain cases. Luckily the soldiers were exposed to small amounts and only a few required treatment. The tests we are conducting are meant to check whether there are traces of the substance in their bodies,” Dr. Shlomi Israelit, emergency medicine director at Rambam said.

Hydrazine supplies power to F-16 fighter jets. Short-term exposure to the chemical may cause irritation in the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, headaches, nausea and more. Long-term exposure can also damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system.

This is not the first time Air Force servicemen are evacuated to hospitals in such circumstances.

More than three years ago 15 soldiers from the Hatzor Air Force Base were taken to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot for blood tests after they were exposed to a dangerous substance at their base. Their condition was classified as “lightly injured” and they were released to their homes.

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